Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by aidenn0 on Sunday January 24, 2021 @12:02AM
(#25889443)
I guarantee that 29% of employees will not quit their jobs if forced to go back; that number is way to high.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by wpietri on Sunday January 24, 2021 @11:11AM
(#25893123)
Sure. More people always intend a thing then actually do it. But I think it's indicative of their feelings. What they will do is complain bitterly, and if they see an opportunity to go remote, they'll take it. That's a great incentive for managers to keep hiring remote.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by mewpmewp2 on Sunday January 24, 2021 @12:17AM
(#25889510)
Given if the alternative is that they can get a remote job elsewhere easily, why not?
I had been working remotely for a startup based in the bay area for a couple of years prior to the pandemic and living in a low COL area for a year of that experience.
I promise you it is much harder to find remote work than otherwise; even during a pandemic. I ended up relocating back to a high COL area because of this difficulty(among a few other things).
Once you realize you have to take a 50% pay cut to work anywhere else(or find another high paying remote job- good luck, everyone else wants one too!) remote work becomes a very tight, and scary leash.
There for sure will not be that many remote jobs.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by mewpmewp2 on Sunday January 24, 2021 @01:19AM
(#25889800)
If it's evident that being remote is just as effective or more why wouldn't most companies start catching the eyes of their potential candidates with that?
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by threatofrain on Sunday January 24, 2021 @03:36AM
(#25890392)
That's what it would take for work-from-home to organically catch on. Either the delta is obvious or it isn't.
The delta is pretty obvious, though. Companies that aren't in tech hubs no longer have to hire from a limited local talent pool, and companies that are in tech hubs can save on both office and salary expenses by hiring across the country. I've already seen local companies announce permanent hybrid models due to the former and large Silicon Valley unicorns like Coinbase announce permanent hybrid models due to the latter.
And speaking very anecdotally, where I work we've done plenty of surveys on WFH and the results were very clear: not allowing any kind of hybrid model would've become a retention disaster over time. The desire for at least some kind of flexibility post-pandemic was overwhelming.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by aidenn0 on Sunday January 24, 2021 @01:20PM
(#25894281)
TFA implies that most remote work will not be full-time remote. Therefore many of the same frictions of changing jobs now will still exist.
My guess is that there will be more full-time remote jobs. But I do expect that most of the tech jobs being discussed will still be attached to an office with a general expectation that teams get together semi-regularly. So long as it's only one day per week or less, that gives people a lot of flexibility in where they live but it does mean they probably can't move to a ski town.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by dnissley on Sunday January 24, 2021 @12:58AM
(#25889708)
That's a pretty big given.
Re:Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]
by aiisjustanif on Sunday January 24, 2021 @11:45AM
(#25893408)
Anecdotally, I have been shocked to see managers in my department not understanding attrition due to people in IT quitting because they are finding new fully remote jobs because they didn’t like the constant “when we plan to go back fully in the office”.
Defaults are powerful. If I look at my journey to essentially 100% remote... I was already traveling a lot and working at home some days. Then I badly broke my foot and started working almost entirely from home and I never went back in that job. When I started a new one about 10 years ago, I went in more but I started traveling more and just went in less and less especially as there were fewer people I worked with around the office.
In particular, scroll 3/4ths of the way down to the "Remote Work Prospects and Employees' Expectations" section. 61% of now-remote workers say they want to stay remote. 29% say they'll quit their jobs it they're forced to go back. And few want to go back 5 days per week.
A year ago, I would have agreed with your analysis. Few would have chosen to go remote. But now inertia works the other way. After a year or more of not commuting, what's normal is staying home. Managers have gotten used to managing remotely. To switch back, managers will have to get 100% of a team to return to the office, which is going to be very challenging. People will quit. People will have specific needs where a manager will have a hard time saying no. And if one person on a team is remote, it'll be very hard to hold the line at one.
I think people will solve the rest of it on their own. Some will renovate or move, setting up better for working from home. There will be a rise in third places like cafes and coworking spaces, so people can leave the house but not have to do a full commute.
So my guess is that we'll see a permanent spread. Remote working will continue to be much more popular than before the pandemic. Many companies, including major ones, will drop the expected days/week in the office below 5. Those who go down to 1-2 will downsize office space, shift to desk hoteling, and treat offices more as places for meetings than work. Some companies will try to return to the old paradigm, but many workers will complain bitterly, and they'll have ongoing trouble with recruiting and retention.